Chapter 25
Paisley had worried that Violet would sense something was wrong, but Ethan had gone to the door with her so she could introduce him to Mrs. Park and explain that he might sometimes pick Violet up when she couldn’t.
Violet had been too excited by Ethan’s presence, and his promise of dinner, to notice they were early picking her up. After she said her goodbyes to Lily, and Paisley thanked Mrs. Park, they went to the Salty Dawg for dinner since Emma and Blaze were taking Violet to the farm in an hour.
Paisley watched Ethan pointing to the pictures on Violet’s placemat. She was busy coloring them in and Ethan was asking her about it. She thought about what she had to tell him later and her stomach tightened into a knot.
Would he be angry? Hurt? Shocked? He wouldn’t walk out on her, she was certain of that. Not while Trey was quite possibly in the area. But he might withdraw. He might want to put distance between them while he processed the news.
“Here we go,” Amber said as she arrived with a tray. “One kid’s cheeseburger, one shrimp pasta, and one meatloaf with mashed potatoes, green beans, and turnip greens. Can I get you anything else?”
“Think we’re good, Amber,” Ethan said. She winked at him, and Paisley told herself she had no right to feel the twinge of jealousy flaring inside. He wasn’t hers yet. He might not be hers ever again, but she hoped he would. Someday, if her life ever got normal again.
If Trey decided he’d rather get on with his life, run his business, make money, and find a trophy wife, maybe he’d give up the idea of revenge.
Surely he’d see they were better off going their separate ways.
He didn’t really want her, and he certainly didn’t want Violet.
He’d never shown any interest in her even when she was a baby.
He made promises to her and then broke them, but he never hugged her or held her or read her any bedtime stories.
He’d always treated her like she was someone else’s kid, not his. Maybe she really was. He’d known there was a chance, but he’d assured Paisley he didn’t care. That was when he’d been trying to convince her to marry him. It’d worked, much to her everlasting regret.
“You gonna eat that pasta?” Ethan asked as he glanced down at her plate.
She picked up her fork. “Yes. Just thinking.”
“Don’t think too hard, babe. Eat. Let me worry about it.”
She was glad he didn’t say Trey’s name.
She twisted pasta around the fork and took a bite. “Mmm, this is good. Amazing, even.”
He grinned. “Told you Theo made a mean Cajun shrimp pasta.”
“You weren’t wrong.”
They ate their dinner and managed to chat about things that had nothing to do with Trey. Once they were done, Paisley told Violet about going to Rory and Chance’s farm with Emma and Blaze. Violet’s eyes were wide, and Paisley began to wonder if her child would protest about going without her.
Violet knew that Paisley worked during the day, but at night she was accustomed to having Paisley around.
They played games, read together, and Violet had all her attention.
Something she hadn’t had when Trey was around.
He’d insisted on little girls being seen and not heard, and he never wanted to play with her.
The times he did, Paisley knew it was so she’d be afraid, wondering if he would lose his temper and lash out at Violet.
“Will Merrylegs be there?” Violet asked.
“No, I’m afraid not. Merrylegs lives on a different farm. But there are goats and chickens. And there’s a garden where you can help pick vegetables for this restaurant.”
Violet’s little mouth fell open. “Really?”
“Yes, really.”
Emma and Blaze arrived soon after. The men went outside to get Violet’s car seat from Paisley’s Kia and set it up in Blaze’s truck while Emma stayed with Paisley and Violet.
When the men returned and the goodbyes were said, Violet skipped out of the Dawg between Emma and Blaze like it was the best day of her life.
“Well, that went a lot better than I thought,” Paisley said with a laugh.
Ethan laughed as he sat in his chair. “The kid likes animals.”
“All kinds of animals, apparently. I thought Merrylegs was going to be a dealbreaker, but nope.”
“Growing up in Brooklyn, we didn’t really see goats or chickens or ponies. But there were dogs and cats. And rats. I liked animals. Maybe not the rats, but I wanted a dog. Or a cat. Didn’t much care, really.”
“Did you ever get one?”
His eyes were shadowed. “No. We didn’t really have a place to keep an animal. By the time I was old enough to leave home and join the military, I found out pretty quick that my life wasn’t conducive to pets.”
Her heart pinched. “You could have one now, couldn’t you?”
“Maybe. Except I currently live in the same house as Alex, and I’m not sure he’d go for it.”
Amber brought the check and Ethan paid even though Paisley offered to get hers and Violet’s.
“Told you I was taking care of you, Payz.”
They left the Dawg through the back door.
He walked her to her car and waited for her to get inside, then followed her home.
She kept glancing in her rearview mirror, her stomach getting tighter the closer they got to her house.
The moment of truth was upon her, and she still didn’t know how to do it right.
Oh, she was definitely going to do what Emma said and just tell him everything, but was there a way to do it without it hurting so much?
Of course there wasn’t. That was the problem.
Telling Ethan he might be Violet’s father, that she’d slept with Trey so soon after they were together, that she’d been pregnant when she’d married Trey, and that Trey had always known there was a fifty-fifty chance—well, it wasn’t going to be easy for either of them.
She waited until Ethan parked and came over to her door to get her, as he’d instructed.
She let him disarm the house alarm and unlock the door, glancing around the neighbors’ yards while she waited behind him on the porch.
It was still light outside, which meant Trey wasn’t lurking behind a bush or anything, but she was nervous anyway.
He sometimes bragged about doing things to people that they never saw coming. Ambushing the enemy on missions and dropping them before they knew he was there. It made her shiver.
But the door opened and they were inside, and Paisley felt herself deflating as the stress of thinking about Trey lying in wait eased a fraction.
Now that they were here, inside her house alone, she didn’t know what to say.
She set her purse down and told herself to breathe so she could calm her racing heart.
Ethan came over to her, wrapped his arms around her, and pulled her close. She could feel his heartbeat beneath her ear. It wasn’t fast like hers. It was steady, comforting. She closed her eyes and held him. They stood for the longest time, not moving, and the stress in her body ebbed even more.
She realized that he wasn’t going to be first to move. He was holding her, comforting her without words, because he knew she needed it. Her body melted even more. He was solid, hard in all the right places, his arms around her a safe haven. She tipped her head back to look up at him.
Their eyes met, tangled, and then he lowered his mouth to hers slowly enough that she could stop him if she wanted.
She did not. Her mouth opened beneath his, and for the first time in nearly five years, a storm of want assailed her.
Everything about Ethan had always felt right.
How had she forgotten it when Trey was comforting her?
How had she convinced herself that what she’d felt with Ethan was just chemistry and not destiny?
It was so much more. His tongue tangled with hers and her heartbeat rocketed right back to overdrive again.
The kiss was everything she’d been hoping it would be.
He nipped and sucked at her lips, his tongue gliding into her mouth again and again.
Paisley clung to him, her bones melting until it was only him holding her up.
Her panties were soaked. If he touched her there, she’d come apart immediately. She wasn’t embarrassed, because they’d been together before, but she didn’t think she’d ever been so wet in her life. So desperate to have him inside her.
His hands slid down to cup her ass. When he pulled her tighter to him, the unmistakable length of his erection made her moan.
“Want you so badly, Payz,” he said against her lips, his voice rough like sandpaper. Gently, he set her away from him, putting her at arm’s length. “You wanted to talk about something. Think we should do that before we talk about what happens next.”
Paisley closed her eyes. Then she moved farther away, wrapping her arms around her body. She’d been so close to heaven and now she had to tell him a hard truth that might make him too angry to ever want to be with her again.
“You should sit,” she said.
His forehead wrinkled. “Is it that bad?”
“I-I don’t know. Maybe? Depends on you.”
He sat on the couch but didn’t lean back. He put his hands on his knees and waited. Paisley sank onto a chair, then stood again, her entire body trembling with energy and fear of the unknown. Once she said the words, they were out there.
“Paisley. Look at me.”
She dragged her gaze to him. He gave her a soft smile. “Whatever it is, you can tell me.”
Her eyes filled with tears. She swiped them away as they spilled over, her chin quivering. He started to rise, but she held a hand out to stop him. He sank back, frowning, and waited.
She loved him so much in that moment. For caring, for worrying, and for giving her the space she requested. Maybe it would all fall apart in a few minutes, or maybe it wouldn’t. Either way, she was about to find out.
“You have to understand.” She swallowed. “When you left, Trey was there. He was always there, a friend in need. He called me, came to see me, checked on me. He gave me a shoulder to cry on, and he let me vent my heartbreak to him. He also took me drinking.”
She swallowed. “It was a week after you’d gone, and I was feeling miserable.
He said we’d have fun, that I needed to remember what it was like being young and single, that I had my whole life ahead of me.
He picked me up and took me to a club. Somewhere I’d never gone with you.
I was careful, but not careful enough, I guess.
I don’t remember drinking too much, but—”
She dropped her gaze to her feet and pulled in calming breaths.
“Baby, just tell me. It’s okay.”
“I woke up naked. With Trey.”
She watched his Adam’s apple move. Saw the hardening of his jaw.
“It was only a week, not enough time to get over you. I should have never—”
“Paisley,” he cut in, his voice raw. “You thought I was gone. That I’d dumped you. If you’d been stone cold sober and slept with him, I couldn’t blame you for it. You said you were careful though. Did you ever think he might have spiked your drink?”
Her body was ice. “Oh my God. I never thought…”
But of course he had. Trey had roofied her and slept with her.
She hadn’t realized it because he’d been soooo very sympathetic the next morning.
He hadn’t touched her again until after Violet was born.
If he hadn’t done that, she’d have had no doubts about Violet’s father.
But he had. Why? He couldn’t have known she was pregnant. She hadn’t known.
No, he’d done it because he wanted to. Because he could. Probably because it gave him great pleasure to imagine that he’d stolen her from under Ethan’s nose. And because he wanted her to think she’d slept with him easily and willingly after a few drinks.
“That bastard,” she growled. “That absolute asshole.”
Ethan started to rise again and again she put her hand out.
“I’m okay. I just need to say this.” She dragged in a breath.
“I missed my period that month. I thought it was stress. But when I missed it again, and I was so tired in the mornings I could hardly get out of bed, I took a test. It was positive.”
He was still frowning. Thinking? Waiting for more?
“I slept with Trey a week after you, Ethan,” she said gently, her heart hurting more than ever. “I don’t know who Violet’s father really is.”